Data Wells: Race and State Violence in the United States from 1892

Quantitative Histories Workshop

Nathan Alexander

Howard University

Kade Davis

Morehouse College

Basil Ghali

Howard University

Qyana Stewart

Howard University

Gabriella La Cour

Spelman College

Data + Ida B. Wells-Barnett

  • We use the term “Data Wells” to describe how we practice the identification, input, and storage of what can be termed as critical insights data, or CIDs.

  • We use information in databases in four ways:

    1. studying problems in the quantification of historical information across various axes: time, social constructs, and/or systemic issues,

    2. data identification and wrangling,

    3. data analysis and communication, and

    4. modeling abstract inquiries.

  • We begin our analysis with Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s organization and analysis of lynching.

  • We describe “Data Wells” of U.S. state violence using quantitative history as a frame.

Quantitative Histories Workshop

Curriculum & software development collective

and

research lab

Quantitative history

  • Quantitative history considers methods and approaches to artifacts as data and information.

  • Historians like Pierre Chanu (text to right) are centered in traditional texts; more perspectives are uncovering troubling practices with regard to race1.

  • Despite long-standing critiques, there are few critical dimensions in quantitative history narratives.

Histoire Quantitative by Pierre Chanu

Racialization and U.S. State Violence

Today, we will discuss race and racialization in data wells of state sponsored violence:

  • Lynching
  • Policing
  • Prisons

Ida B. Wells-Barnett on lynching

  • Personal experience. In 1892, a close friend of Ida B. Wells-Barnett was lynched. Wells-Barnett, a known activist, community organizer, and journalist, would generate quantitative indicators of lynching as state violence.
  • Intuition and method. Like many Black communities at the time and other allies, Wells-Barnett acknowledged both the personal (micro) social forces of racism and the systemic (macro) nature of white racial violence. In this case, this violence was expressed through the practice of lynching.
  • Impact. Wells-Barnett’s databases, and the use of number and quantification have a profound impact on the current view of state-sponsored racial violence.

Lynching

Caitlin Pollock has created software based on a series of extracted data from Wells-Barnett’s work. Although the data provides for quick loading and analysis, it does require some data wrangling.

Content for 1893

Content for 1894

Content for 1895

Concerns

Pollock deals with the issue of erasure in their development of the data.

Policing

Fatal police interactions

Faculty and student research poster

Campus Policing

Campus Policing Timeline

Racism

Prisons

  • “In 2021, Black Americans were imprisoned at 5.0 times the rate of whites, while American Indians and Latinx people were imprisoned at 4.2 times and 2.4 times the white rate, respectively.” (The Sentencing Project, 2023)

  • “One in five Black men born in 2001 is likely to experience imprisonment within their lifetime, a decline from one in three for those born in 1981. Pushback from policymakers threatens further progress in reducing racial inequity in incarceration.” (The Sentencing Project, 2023)

Prisons

Prisons

Content for federal

Content for state

Content for federal and state

Thank you

Thank you for joining us and citing today’s presentation.

Alexander, N., Davis, K., Ghali, B., Stewart, K., & La Cour, G. (2024, April 26). Data Wells: Race and State Violence in the United States from 1892. The 2024 Bob Moses Conference. Online.